Video Card help needed

First off, hello and thanks to moderators for getting me on right track (I hope). I am new to computer gaming, having only an atari, nintendo...Xbox in the past. I am from the Southeast US.

I currently can play F.E.A.R. online without much problem and Halo is playable but sluggish at times. I know so little about graphic cards (and computers in general), that I bought Quake Wars to go online with. However, my system doesn't have the graphic ability (or much else from what I've been reading) to play this game.

So, my question is can I simply upgrade a few things with my current system for Quake Wars and other similar games or do I need all new stuff? I realize my system is for home and light work things, but was hoping to beef it up for mild gaming.

Here are my specs as requested using cpu-z:
Power supply: ATX-300-12EB3 with 300W and 12A
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 530 with 3000MHz core speed
Motherboard:Intel Corporation with Model D915GAG and chipset is 915/915G
MemoryDR with Dual channels and 512Mbytes
Hard Drive recently replaced (crashed) to 200Gigabytes
Drives: cd-rw and dvr-rw
Sound card: I have no clue but it is what came with system

I am willing to spend what it takes to upgrade to play games like Quake Wars but not Crysis. I'd like to limit my budget on graphic card to $200 or less (easier to hide from wife) but I understand that the entire motherboard may need upgrading. Bottom line is if I can upgrade what I have to play without lagging online I would be ecstatic.

Thanks to ho_hoso and the other guys on this forum for not making a guy feel dumb simply because he doesn't know computers.

what operating system are you running? (you'd better not say Vista with those specs!) I didn't check out your motherboard specs at all, but I know at least 1GB of memory is a must for modern gaming. Your CPU looks like it will work. I don't know about your PSU - you might run the risk of torching some things if you don't upgrade to at least a 400-450W name brand.

Finally, what expansion slots does your motherboard have? If you only have AGP and no PCIexpress, you will be rather limited on the video cards you can purchase. I heard nVidia came out with some rather good AGP cards recently, but I don't know any of the info on them. I think that they have the geForce 6x series out that are AGP still...

Unless you're an audiophile, don't worry about a sound card. Your hard drive should be fine as well. I think the biggest thing will be a)how much memory you can get and b)what kind of expansion slots you have on your motherboard (PCIxpress would be ideal). That's all I got.

Thanks for the reply, sorry its taken so long to get back. I have answers to all your questions. First, I am running XP and not Vista.

The info below states PCI slots with Express X 1 and X 16. Is this good or bad?

Also, I have 512 MB but it is DDR. Does this mean its as good as 1GB or do I need another 512 MB? Also, what benefit does this give? Less lagging or what? I don't lag too bad with FEAR or Halo at this point.

Upgrading my PSU will not be a problem, I've actually done this for a computer at work and feel OK with doing that.

Best detail is not as important as smooth playing during a game for me. Would extra money spent on an 8700 or 8800 add anything other than more crisp graphics or would it also help with frame rate? I would be willing to spend a little extra for that.

Also, would either of these two cards be "too fast" for my system with the other upgrades of psu and ram suggested by Op2? I have 512MB of RAM now, do I need two of the same or can I just add another 512MB to my current RAM?

Yes, it would be very nice for you if you can spend extra money to buy the 8800 card. It won't be like an awesome improvement from the 8600, but it will certainly make you happy.

For RAM, I recommend you to sell your old sticks, and use only the new 1GB (2 x 512MB) or 2GB (2 x 1GB). But if you plan to add 512MB to what you've already had, you don't need two of the same (or may be I misunderstand you here, it's better to have two cards that are similar to each other, but you don't need to have 4 similar cards). Sometimes there is conflict, but I can't say anything about that.

It will be very hard right now to find a 8800GT. You may not be able to get one right away, so if you want everything right now then you may have to go with a 8600. Or spend more than $300 and get the 8800GTX. Which I don't think you have the money for. But if you can wait for it the 8800GT would be a very great choice. I also suggest looking at these. They are a little below the 8800GT in performance (from what I heard) but they are also cheaper.